The Pennsylvania legislature, which a few years ago enacted that forestry should be encouraged by allowing a man not to pay for the repairs to the highways, provided he would plant a few trees along the roadside fence, has again distinguished itself by enacting that counties shall pay fifty cents for every owl or hawk destroyed. Since that act was passed, one year ago (June, 1885), Chester county has had to pay for ninety hawks and twelve owls, $75. The Chester county people are protesting against the stupid slaughter. Prof. Merriam, the ornithologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, expresses himself freely about the absurdity of this law.

"The possibility of the passage of such an act by any legislative body, is a melancholy comment on the wide-spread ignorance that prevails even among intelligent persons, concerning the food of our common birds and mammals, and is an evidence of the urgent need of just such systematic and comprehensive investigations as this department is now making on the subject of the relation of food habits to agriculture.

"Of hawks and owls collectively, it may safely be said that, except in rare instances, the loss they occasion by the destruction of poultry, is insignificant in comparison with the benefits derived by the farmer and fruit grower from their constant vigilance; for when unmolested, the one guards his crop by day and the other by night".

As to the real food of hawks, Mr. B. Harry Warren, of West Chester, made the following report in 1883 to the Pennsylvania State Board of Agriculture:

The Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo Borealis)

My examination of one hundred and two birds of this species, revealed in eighty-one chiefly mice and small quadrupeds, also some few small birds; nine, chickens; three, quail; two, rabbits; one, ham-skin; one, a part of a skunk; one, a red squirrel; one, a gray squirrel; three, snakes.

The Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo Lineatus)

Of thirty-six examinations which I have made of this species, twenty-three showed mice and small quadrupeds, grasshoppers and coleopterous insects; nine revealed frogs and some few insects; in two, snakes and portions of frogs were present; and from the remaining two small birds, particles of hair and a few orthopterous insects were taken.

Broad-Winged Hawk (Buteo Pennsylvanicus

In twelve specimens examined by myself, four revealed mice; three, small birds; four, frogs; one, killed the 22d of May this present year, 1882, was gorged with cray-fish, with which were traces of coleopterous insects.

The Sparrow Hawk (Falco Sparverius)

The stomach contents of twenty-nine of this species, which I have dissected, showed in fifteen, principally mice, with frequent traces of various insects; six, grasshoppers; two, coleoptera and grasshoppers; two, meadow larks; four, small birds - sparrows.

Coopers Hawk (Accipiter Cooperi)

Of twenty-seven birds which I have examined, fourteen showed the food taken to have been chickens; five revealed small birds - sparrows and warblers - Dendroeca -two, quail; one, bull-frogs; three, mice and insects; two, hair and other remains of small quadrupeds.

Sharp-Shinned Hawk (Accipiter Fuscus)

I have dissected fifteen of these falcons. Six of this number showed small birds; three, quail; one, mice; four, remains of young chickens; one, grasshoppers and beetles.

The Rough-Legged Falcon (Archibuteo Lago-Pus, Sancti-Johannes)

Nine birds all showed their food to be exclusively field mice.

The Marsh Hawk (Circus Cyaneus Hudsonius)

Of eleven birds examined, five revealed mice; two, small birds - Dendroeca - three, frogs; one, a large number of grasshoppers, with a small quantity of hair, evidently that of a young rabbit".

It is evident that it is no "sickly sentiment" that induces the protest against the Pennsylvania law, for the figures show the numbers slaughtered in the interests of science have been large.